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architecture and design magazineFri, 09 Dec 2016 17:15:06 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1Flat Polygons tool folds to make four different sizes of measuring spoonhttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/13/polygons-flat-foldable-measuring-spoon-origami-cutlery-design/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/13/polygons-flat-foldable-measuring-spoon-origami-cutlery-design/#commentsThu, 13 Oct 2016 17:06:15 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=989245A single piece of flat, flexible plastic serves as a whole set of measuring spoons in this invention by Polygons Design. The plastic rectangle folds into one of four different spoon sizes depending on how it is picked up. Polygons launched the spoon on Kickstarter two days ago, but it has already exceeded its crowdfunding goal

The designers are offering the product in a set of two – one spoon with volumes ranging from a quarter to a full tablespoon, and one with a quarter to a full teaspoon.

Indian designer Rahul Agarwal founded Polygons Design in 2014. He claims that, as a student of design, he was advised by a senior not to tackle designs that have reached the final stage of their evolution – like spoons.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/10/13/polygons-flat-foldable-measuring-spoon-origami-cutlery-design/feed/2Brodie Neill creates terrazzo-effect table using recycled ocean plasticshttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/03/gyro-table-brodie-neill-recycled-ocean-plastic-first-london-design-biennale/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/03/gyro-table-brodie-neill-recycled-ocean-plastic-first-london-design-biennale/#commentsSat, 03 Sep 2016 05:00:44 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=966288London Design Biennale 2016: fragments of recycled ocean plastic are inlaid to achieve the terrazzo effect of the Gyro table, designed by Brodie Neill for Australia's entry into the first London Design Biennale (+ slideshow). Neill, an Australian designer now based in London, constructed the table from tiny pieces of plastic that have been salvaged from beaches

]]>London Design Biennale 2016:fragments of recycled ocean plastic are inlaid to achieve the terrazzo effect of the Gyro table, designed by Brodie Neill for Australia's entry into the first London Design Biennale (+ slideshow).

Neill, an Australian designer now based in London, constructed the table from tiny pieces of plastic that have been salvaged from beaches around the world, including Tasmania, Hawaii and Cornwall.

Each piece was separated by colour before being processed and arranged into a plastic composite. The visual effect is similar to terrazzo flooring, which is usually made from marble or granite.

Using chips of blue, white, black, brown and green plastic, the table's speckled top evokes the colours of the ocean.

Its mottled colours fan out from the centre in a gradient, going from mostly white in the centre to black at the edge.

The Gyro table was specially commissioned for the London Design Biennale 2016, which centres around the theme of Utopia by Design. Neill is using this theme to draw attention to the potential of a material that is currently polluting the world's oceans.

"I saw marine plastic as a commodity, not waste," Neill told Dezeen. "In this way I hope to, in the words of Dr Erik van Sebille, 'return plastic to the economy and free it from the environment'."

Neill was driven to work with ocean plastic after observing it washed up on the once pristine beaches of Bruny Island, in his native Tasmania.

"I was saddened to see how a place so remote, which I remembered as being postcard-picturesque, was now completely ruined by the plastic litter which had drifted from other part of the world as well as Australia," continued the designer.

"This was when I started thinking about how I could use plastic as a design material and also to proactively learn about the global scale of the problem of marine plastic."

Neill worked with an international community of environmentalists to collect the plastic pieces from their local seashores. To turn it into a useable material, he collaborated with scientists and other designers.

The final process sees the pieces of plastic cleaned and sterilised before being mixed with resin and ocean plastic aggregate to create a speckled composite material.

The ocean plastic chips are carefully and evenly spaced within this mix, giving the composite a terrazzo-like effect. Small slabs of the composite are CNC cut and inlaid into the table.

Neill is now aiming to refine the material so he can be apply it on an industrial scale in future projects.

Gyro is not the designer's first foray into reclaimed materials. His Remix chaise longue, created in 2008, was carved from layers of recycled plastics and plywoods.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/09/03/gyro-table-brodie-neill-recycled-ocean-plastic-first-london-design-biennale/feed/2Austeja Platukyte's packaging is made from biodegradable algae-based plastichttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/23/vilnius-academy-of-arts-austeja-platukytes-thats-it-packaging-biodegradable-eco-friendly-waterproof/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/23/vilnius-academy-of-arts-austeja-platukytes-thats-it-packaging-biodegradable-eco-friendly-waterproof/#commentsSat, 23 Jul 2016 15:00:56 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=939343Graduate shows 2016: Vilnius Academy of Arts graduate Austeja Platukyte has designed a range of packaging using a material made from algae, which could replace non-biodegradable forms of plastic (+ slideshow). Platukyte used only two ingredients to make the material: agar, which is derived from algae, and calcium carbonate, which has been impregnated with emulsifying wax. The material is strong

]]>Graduate shows 2016: Vilnius Academy of Arts graduate Austeja Platukyte has designed a range of packaging using a material made from algae, which could replace non-biodegradable forms of plastic (+ slideshow).

Platukyte used only two ingredients to make the material: agar, which is derived from algae, and calcium carbonate, which has been impregnated with emulsifying wax.

The material is strong enough to protect products but remains lightweight and is also waterproof. After its use it can be composted, or used as a fertiliser to help retain soil moisture.

The packaging can also be discarded and left to naturally decay, forming new layers of chalk as it does so. To prove the material's biodegradability, the designer buried packaging earlier in the year and has been regularly monitoring its gradual decomposition.

Other designers have recently explored uses for algae-based materials in everything from furniture to textile dyes.

"That's It packaging is the result of an experimental practice that was aimed at finding a substitute for synthetic plastic using only natural resources which would later on form a new cycle of nature," said Platukyte, who graduated from the Vilnius Academy of Arts Product Design course this year.

"I had tested a number of natural materials as well as their mixtures before I came up with the most suitable solution."

The designer used the material to form an experimental line of bowl-shaped packaging, which included plywood lids that were attached to containers using natural rubber bands.

She displayed these as part of her final project to show how the That's It packaging could be used for a range of different products or substances. Platukyte also saved all waste created during the design process, and plans to incorporate it into future projects.

"While working on my final thesis I have followed zero-waste philosophy and sought to shed light on an increasingly prevalent problem of environmental pollution, as well as to reduce its impact through the processes and alternative products I create," she said.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/23/vilnius-academy-of-arts-austeja-platukytes-thats-it-packaging-biodegradable-eco-friendly-waterproof/feed/2Hou de Sousa builds reconfigurable Raise/Raze installation from plastic ballshttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/19/hou-de-sousa-builds-reconfigurable-raiseraze-installation-plastic-balls-washington-dc/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/19/hou-de-sousa-builds-reconfigurable-raiseraze-installation-plastic-balls-washington-dc/#commentsTue, 19 Jul 2016 17:51:26 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=938412New York firm Hou de Sousa has created an interactive installation in a Washington DC subway station, using over half a million plastic spheres glued together to form building blocks (+ slideshow). The intervention called Raise/Raze invited visitors to construct and deconstruct the interior of a defunct underground tunnel, using block-like modules made of glued-together plastic

To build the installation, principals Jia Min Nancy Hou and Josh de Sousa aggregated 650,000 plastic balls into 24,000 cubes of 27 balls each. Once grouped together, the assemblage was quite strong – a single cube could bear the weight of an adult standing on it, according to the designers.

In the design, Hou de Sousa "sought to design a dynamic re-usable system, rather than a specific form". Visitors were therefore welcome to modify the layout of the installation at will.

"Raise/Raze is like sand in a massive sandbox, something akin to a life sized Lego set, or a real-world version of the popular video game Minecraft," said the designers.

While the composition of the installation's spaces were defined at the outset, it shifted and changed over time. Each cube could attach itself to other adjacent cubes with hook and loop fasteners – similar to Velcro – so they were easy to rearrange.

Before settling on the use of glue and fasteners to connect the plastic balls, the studio worked through a series of mockups using different materials and joining techniques, even attempting to use magnets to hold the balls together.

The final solution relied on the geometry of the cubes for stability. Instead of connecting the balls to each other perpendicularly, the spheres were packed in a hexagonal pattern. This multiplied the total number of connections within a cube, making it much sturdier.

Raise/Raze was on display for the entire month of May and was taken down 1 June 2016. Similar translucent balls were used to create a dynamic canopy over a pavilion in Israel.

]]>https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/19/hou-de-sousa-builds-reconfigurable-raiseraze-installation-plastic-balls-washington-dc/feed/1Micaella Pedros explains how to make furniture using discarded plastic bottleshttps://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/08/video-interview-micaella-pedros-joining-bottles-furniture-discarded-plastic-rca-graduate-movie/
https://www.dezeen.com/2016/07/08/video-interview-micaella-pedros-joining-bottles-furniture-discarded-plastic-rca-graduate-movie/#commentsFri, 08 Jul 2016 09:33:42 +0000http://admin.dezeen.com/?p=929159Graduate shows 2016: design graduate Micaella Pedros demonstrates how heat-shrunk plastic bottles can be used to create stable furniture joints in this movie filmed by Dezeen for the Royal College of Art (+ movie). Pedros' Joining Bottles project, which she presented at the ShowRCA 2016 graduate exhibition, explores how discarded plastic bottles can be repurposed to build wood furniture. The MA

"The idea is about taking a plastic bottle, cutting it, and then putting it around two pieces of wood. Then I heat it so it shrinks and creates a joint."

Pedros uses a heat gun to shrink the plastic. She carves notches in the wood to create a more secure hold.

"Carving is key to the strength of the joints," she explains. "By creating small irregularities, the plastic locks itself with the wood."

Pedros has used the technique to build a range of furniture pieces made from wood scavenged from around London.

However, she says the primary aim of the project is to teach others how to create their own furniture using the technique.

"The core idea of the project is not to sell the products I'm building but more about sharing the principle and sharing the technique," Pedros explains.

Pedros worked with a community group called R-Urban Wick based in Hackney Wick, London, to run workshops teaching people how to use the process.

"The idea was to allow people to come and build a small piece of furniture quickly that they can take it home," she says. "All the people who do it always have this big smile because there is something sort of magical happening."

Because of the universal abundance of plastic bottles, Pedros hopes to teach people around the world how to use the technique to create their own unique furniture quickly and cheaply using local materials.

"The plastic bottles are always going to be the same everywhere," she says. "But you can imagine if I'm in Guatemala, for example, I am not going to find the same type of wood, so you will have a completely different language."

Micaella Pedros. Copyright: Dezeen

This movie was produced by Dezeen for the Royal College of Art. Additional footage in the movie and photographs used in this story are by Micaella Pedros, unless otherwise stated.

Joining Bottles was on display at the ShowRCA graduate exhibition, which took place from 26 June to 3 July 2016 at the Royal College of Art's Kensington campus. Dezeen was media partner for the event and we will be publishing more video interviews with graduates in the coming weeks.